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Monday, December 3, 2007

BCS Bowl Games: Schedules, Match-ups, Early Predictions

Ohio State will take on LSU in the Bowl Championship Series title game on January 7 in New Orleans.

The Buckeyes finished atop the BCS regular season standings and will play for the national championship for a second straight year after losing to Florida, 41-14, in Glendale, Arizona last January.

LSU (11-2) beat Tennessee, 21-14, Saturday in the SEC championship game, the same day Tigers coach Les Miles announced he's not going to take the Michigan coaching job, but instead will remain in Baton Rouge.

The Buckeyes (11-1) seemed shoo-ins to make it to the title game following losses by Missouri and West Virginia on Saturday. The Tigers were No. 1 in the BCS, but lost to Oklahoma, 38-17, in the Big 12 championship game, and the Mountaineers were second, but were shocked 13-9 at home by Pittsburgh.

"Very fortunate, and we enjoy where we're at," Miles said.

Ohio State's lone loss came at Illinois, 28-21, on November 10, the week before the Buckeyes went to Michigan to win the Big Ten. Before that loss to the Fighting Illini, Ohio State had won every game by at least 16 points, with the exception of a 24-17 home win over Michigan State on October 20.

The Buckeyes will be able to play for their eighth national championship, last winning the title in the 2002 season, beating the Miami Hurricanes at the Fiesta Bowl.

LSU will play for its third national championship in football, last winning the title in 2003 from the coaches with a Sugar Bowl victory over Oklahoma.

The BCS system uses a pair of human polls -- the Harris Interactive and the USA Today -- as well as six computer rankings. Each poll counts one-third toward the overall score, while the average of the computers completes the formula.

HOW THEY FINISHEDOhio State and LSU were 1-2, respectively, in the Associated Press and the Coaches' polls on Sunday. The Buckeyes were third in the BCS last week, while LSU was seventh. The latest poll had Ohio State with a BCS average of .9588, just ahead of the Tigers (.9394), while Virginia Tech was a distant third (.8703).

Oklahoma and Georgia were next in the standings, followed by Missouri, which was left out of a BCS game. Southern California was seventh, followed by Kansas, West Virginia and Hawaii to round out the top 10.

WHO PLAYS WHO

While the BCS title game will be played on January 7, the other top bowl games -- Rose, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta -- will still play their traditional games on New Year's Day or soon after. The BCS title game rotates among the four traditional sites -- Pasadena, Miami, New Orleans and Arizona. The other BCS games were also set up Sunday.

Hawaii (12-0) the only unbeaten team in the nation was chosen to play Georgia (10-2) in the Sugar Bowl, at the Superdome on New Year's night.

The Rose Bowl will pit Pac-10 champion Southern California (10-2) against Illinois (9-3) on January 1. The other contests pit ACC winner Virginia Tech (11-2) against Kansas (11-1) in the Orange Bowl on January 3, and Oklahoma (11-2) versus Big East champion West Virginia (10-2) in the Fiesta Bowl on January 2.

Georgia didn't win the SEC East, being edged in a tiebreaker after losing at Tennessee, 35-14, on October 6. For the first time since the 1983 season, Georgia will face an undefeated team in its bowl game. That season, seventh- ranked Georgia upset second-ranked Texas 10-9 in the 1984 Cotton Bowl. The Warriors were last in a postseason game on the mainland in 1992, beating Illinois at the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. Hawaii has won its last three bowl games, all in Honolulu.

The Trojans won their final four games of the season after a 24-17 loss at Oregon on October 27. However, the sore spot for Pete Carroll's team was a shocking a 24-23 home loss to lowly Stanford, which came into that October 6 game as a 41-point underdog.

This will be the first time USC will meet Illinois at the Rose Bowl. USC, which won its sixth consecutive Pac-10 title by beating crosstown foe UCLA on Saturday, will be making its 32nd trip to the Rose Bowl.

The Fighting Illini will play in their first bowl game since New Year's day 2002 when they lost to LSU at the Sugar Bowl. Illinois will be making its first Rose Bowl appearance since the 1983 season when it was blown out by UCLA. Illinois' last Rose Bowl win came in the 1963 season against Washington.

Oklahoma's two losses came 27-24 on September 29 at Colorado on a last-second field goal. The Sooners blew a 24-7 second-half lead in that game. Their only other loss was 34-27 at Texas Tech on November 17 when starting quarterback Sam Bradford suffered a concussion.

This will mark OU's ninth consecutive bowl game -- a Sooner record. Last year, Oklahoma suffered a 43-42 overtime loss to Boise State at the Fiesta Bowl.

West Virginia is making its first trip to the Fiesta Bowl since playing Notre Dame for the national championship in 1989. The Mountaineers are making their second BCS bowl trip in three years, having defeated Georgia, 38-35, in the 2005 Sugar Bowl.

The Orange Bowl matchup will pit the nation's second-ranked scoring defense in Virginia Tech against the nation's No. 2 passing offense in Kansas.

The Hokies gained the Orange Bowl berth with their victory over Boston College in the ACC title game on Saturday, avenging a loss to the Eagles on October 25. However, Virginia Tech's other loss proved to be their downfall for not being selected to play in the title game. The Hokies were rocked, 48-7, at LSU on September 8.

The Jayhawks were riding high going into a November 24 meeting against Missouri, but were knocked from their unbeaten perch with a 36-28 loss,

Instead of playing in a BCS game, Missouri will take on Arkansas at the Cotton Bowl on New Year's day in Dallas.

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